Download old medical terms

Old Medical Terms A collection of old medical terms that were used on many documents, including death certificates. Many entries have been submitted by LCGS members and definitions verified using: A To Zak, A Compreshensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians, Third Edition, 1995, by Barbara Jean Evans and Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Edition 14 Illustrated, 1981, Edited by Clayton L. Thomas, M.D., M.P.H. Ablepsy Blindness Ague Malarial Fever American plague Yellow Fever Anasarca Generalized massive edema Aphonia Laryngitis Apoplexy Paralysis due to stroke Atrophy Wasting away or diminishing in size Bad Blood Syphilis Bilious fever Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis Biliousness Jaundice associated with liver disease Black fever Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high rate Black plague or death Bubonic plague Black pox Black small pox Black vomit Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever Blackwater fever Dark urine associated with high temperature Blood poisoning Bacterial infection; septicemia Bloody flux Bloody stools Bloody sweats Sweating sickness Bone shave Sciatica Brain fever Meningitis Breakbone Dengue fever Bright’s disease Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys Bronze John Yellow fever Cachexy Malnutrition Caduceus Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy Camp fever Typhus Canine madness Rabies Canker Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex Catarrh Associated with the common cold. An inflammation of the mucous membranes; runny nose; sinusitis Chin cough Whooping cough Cholera Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing Congestive chills Malaria Consumption Tuberculosis Coryza A cold Costiveness Constipation Cramp colic Appendicitis Crop sickness Overextended stomach Decrepitude Feebleness due to old age Lee County Genealogical Society Page 1 of 4 Old Medical Terms Deplumation Diary fever Diphtheria Dry Bellyache Eel thing Elephantiasis Falling sickness Fatty liver French pox Great pox Green fever Grocer’s itch Grippe Heart sickness Hip gout Horrors Hydrothorax Infantile paralysis Jail fever King’s evil Kruchhusten Lagrippe Long sickness Lues disease Lues venera Lung fever Lung sickness Malignant sore throat Mania Marasmust Membranous croup Miasma Milk fever Milk sickness Mormal Morphew Mortification Myelitis Myocarditis Necrosis Nephosis Nephritis Nervous prostration Neuralgia Nostalgia Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss A fever that lasts one day Contagious disease of the throat Lead poisoning Erysipelas A form of leprosy Epilepsy Cirrhosis of liver Syphilis Syphilis Anemia Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour Influenza Condition caused by loss of salt from body Osteomylitis Delirium tremens Dropsy in chest Polio Typhus Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands Whooping cough Influenza Tuberculosis Syphilis Venereal disease Pneumonia Tuberculosis Diphtheria Insanity Progressive wasting away of body Diphtheria Poisonous vapors thoughts to infect the air Disease from drinking contaminated milk Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds Gangrene Scurvy blisters on the body Gangrene of necrotic tissue Inflammation of the spine Inflammation of the heart muscles Mortification of bones or tissue Kidney degeneration Inflammation of the kidneys Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities described as discomfort, such as "headache" was neuralgia in the head Homesickness Lee County Genealogical Society Page 2 of 4 Old Medical Terms Palsy Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscle -­‐ often used as a cause of death Paroxysm Convulsion Pemphigus Skin disease of watery blisters Pericarditis Inflammation of the heart Peripneumonia Inflammation of the lungs Peritonitis Inflammation of abdominal area Petechial fever Fever characterized by skin spotting Phitiriasis Lice infiltration Phitisis Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis Plague An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate Pleurisy Any pain in the chest area with each breath Podagra Gout Poliomyelitis Polio Potter's asthma Fibroid phthisis Puerpal exhaustion Death due to child birth Puerperal fever Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant Puerperal exhaustion Death due to child birth Phthiriasis Lice infection Podagra Gout Pott’s disease Tuberculosis of spine Quinsy Tonsillitis Remitting fever Malaria Rickets Disease of skeletal system Rose cold Hay fever Scirrhus Cancerous tumors Scotomy Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight Scrivener’s palsy Writer’s cramp Screws Rheumatism Scrumpox Skin disease, impetigo Ship fever Typhus Sloes Milk sickness Spotted fever Either typhus or meningitis Sprue Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorder and sore throat St. Anthony’s fire Affected skin areas are bright red St. Vitas Dance Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex involuntary jerking movements Stomatitis Inflammation of the mouth Stranger’s fever Yellow fever Swamp sickness Could be malaria, typhoid or encephalitis Infectious and fatal disease common to the United Kingdom in the 15th Sweating sickness century Thrush Childhood disease characterized by spots on mouth, lips and throat Trench mouth Painful ulcers found along gum line; caused by poor nutrition and hygiene Variola Smallpox Viper’s Dance St. Vitus Dance Lee County Genealogical Society Page 3 of 4 Old Medical Terms White swelling Winter fever Yellowjacket Tuberculosis of the bone Pneumonia Yellow fever Lee County Genealogical Society Page 4 of 4